{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/133147"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/133147","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"These Are The Rules","abstract":"These Are The Rules is a novel-in progress that follows the lives of Emmanuelle, sole prisoner on a spaceship, and Hector, the advanced artificial intelligence that runs the ship and looks after Emmanuelle. In addition to the overarching plot on the ship, the novel includes scenes from Emmanuelle's life on Earth, as well as moments from Hector's first days of existence. The work also incorporates scenes that reimagine traditional Latin American folklore and colonial history with moments written from the point of view of inanimate objects. Existing within the literary speculative fiction and magical realism genres, the narrative's eclectic framework and use of language combines prose and poetry and the inorganic with the organic, to emphasize the miraculous interlocking combination of details that build up to an individual identity. The chapters also explore betrayal and martyrdom; love and memory; power and helplessness; abandonment and tragic lingering. It asks: How did my ghosts and I arrive here?","abstract_html":"These Are The Rules is a novel-in progress that follows the lives of Emmanuelle, sole prisoner on a spaceship, and Hector, the advanced artificial intelligence that runs the ship and looks after Emmanuelle. In addition to the overarching plot on the ship, the novel includes scenes from Emmanuelle's life on Earth, as well as moments from Hector's first days of existence. The work also incorporates scenes that reimagine traditional Latin American folklore and colonial history with moments written from the point of view of inanimate objects. Existing within the literary speculative fiction and magical realism genres, the narrative's eclectic framework and use of language combines prose and poetry and the inorganic with the organic, to emphasize the miraculous interlocking combination of details that build up to an individual identity. The chapters also explore betrayal and martyrdom; love and memory; power and helplessness; abandonment and tragic lingering. 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In addition to the overarching plot on the ship, the novel includes scenes from Emmanuelle's life on Earth, as well as moments from Hector's first days of existence. The work also incorporates scenes that reimagine traditional Latin American folklore and colonial history with moments written from the point of view of inanimate objects. Existing within the literary speculative fiction and magical realism genres, the narrative's eclectic framework and use of language combines prose and poetry and the inorganic with the organic, to emphasize the miraculous interlocking combination of details that build up to an individual identity. The chapters also explore betrayal and martyrdom; love and memory; power and helplessness; abandonment and tragic lingering. It asks: How did my ghosts and I arrive here?"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["These Are The Rules is a literary speculative fiction novel-in-progress about a young woman named Emmanuelle, who after having assassinated a political leader, is sentenced to a lifetime of solitary confinement on a small spaceship. Her only companion aboard the ship is an increasingly sentient artificial intelligence known as Hector. Hector, the novel's second protagonist, maintains and navigates the ship. Bound by his programming, he is tasked not only with looking after Emmanuelle's physical and mental states, but also with punishing her for any transgressions against the Rules imposed by the dystopian penal system that has brought them together. The personal dynamics between the artificial intelligence who is both guardian, companion, and warden to a troubled human inmate, are further complicated by a growing romance and the human's compulsive inclination towards self-destruction."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Fine Arts"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["These Are The Rules"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Terazawa, Sophia Emi"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Joseph, Janine Alissandra Fernandez","Vollmer, James M."],"dc:contributor.department":["English"],"dc:creator":["Santana, Catalina Enith"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-05-20T08:03:00Z"],"dc:date.available":["2025-05-20T08:03:00Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-05-19"],"dc:description.abstract":["These Are The Rules is a novel-in progress that follows the lives of Emmanuelle, sole prisoner on a spaceship, and Hector, the advanced artificial intelligence that runs the ship and looks after Emmanuelle. 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The personal dynamics between the artificial intelligence who is both guardian, companion, and warden to a troubled human inmate, are further complicated by a growing romance and the human's compulsive inclination towards self-destruction."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Fine Arts"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:43706"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/133147"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["surreal","spaceship","artificial intelligence","personhood","literary speculative fiction"],"dc:title":["These Are The Rules"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Creative Writing"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:09Z"}